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Balthazar by Claudia Gray

Rating:

3

And so the story goes, an ordinary girl finds herself in trouble, but is miraculously saved by a handsome vampire with a soft spot for humanity. That's how Claudia Gray begins her newest installment to her "Evernight" series, "Balthazar."

Skye, the book's main character, has always had an unexplainable connection to the supernatural. She used to live in a haunted house and made friends with its ghost, and then unknowingly transferred to a high school filled with supernatural beings, Evernight Academy.

But that was a year ago, after the school burned down and she was forced to enter back into the real world. Skye's troubles begin when she takes her horse for a quick ride, but gets cornered by a cunning and hungry vampire with a taste for torment. An old vampire classmate from Evernight Academy, Balthazar, comes to the rescue, but not before the other vampire has a drop of Skye's magical blood.

The plot becomes predictable from here: Balthazar promises to protect Skye and in the process, he's forced to face his demons, his maker and the people he's hurt during the last 400 years. Of course, no vampire story is complete without the mortal and the undead falling in love, though both know it will only end badly. As Balthazar gets punished time and again for his past mistakes, Skye falls prey to his greatest enemies, and the more vampires who taste her blood, the more danger she's in.

There are instances of violence and death as the vampires attempt to kill each other and there are some sexual themes, including Skye dealing with the rejection of a boyfriend to whom she lost her virginity, and they end up in the same sex education class.

Though the plot doesn't succeed in setting itself apart from the other popular vampire series, Gray does add a fresh story to the culture. The heroine is strong, fierce and unwilling to compromise with vampires when it comes to her happiness or her family's safety. She has her own demons to deal with, but she's strong on her own.

Gray's character development for Balthazar is fascinating as well, as she writes in third person, giving readers a taste of his thoughts, mixed with flashbacks from his centuries of existence, to illustrate how he became so devoted to saving humanity from vampires. Balthazar might not be the most hunky vampire ever envisioned, but he's among the most noble, which adds a dimension to Gray's novel that's absent in a lot of other vampire literature.

"Balthazar" stays at the maturity level of its targeted readers while keeping a balance between the supernatural and the real world. And once readers get hooked on "Balthazar," they'll find themselves immersed in the whole series.

Fanged Films

From the Library

A million fancies strike you when you hear the name: Nosferatu!N O S F E R A T Udoes not die!What do you expect of the first showing of this great work?Aren't you afraid? - Men must die. But legend has it that a vampire, Nosferatu, 'der Untote' (the Undead), lives on men's blood! You want to see a symphony of horror? You may expect more. Be careful. Nosferatu is not just fun, not something to be taken lightly. Once more: beware.- Publicity for Nosferatu in the German magazine Buhne und Film, 1922

Late in the 17th century, there was a town called Croglin Grange (in Cumberland County, England). It's been said by some that the town was visited by a vampire... and the young lady in the tale barely escaped with her life.A one-story home in Croglin Grange was rented to a two brothers and their sister. One summer night, when the heat from the day still clung to the air, the sister was looking out her window at the stars. It was too hot to sleep. Suddenly, she noticed two lights that flickered in and out of the group of trees that lay beyond her window.